UFC News: Georges St-Pierre Gives Prediction On McGregor-Cowboy Fight

KEY POINTS

GSP predicts McGregor-Cowboy fight
McGregor will win a quick striking match
Cowboy has the advantage in the ground game

Retired MMA great Georges St-Pierre shared a piece of his mind on the forthcoming bout between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone. Predictions continue to pile up as UFC 246 comes closer, and the former two-division champion is siding with the consensus as to what could dictate the result of the face-off.

Just like most fearless forecasts, GSP sees the “Notorious” as having the whip hand over the “Cowboy” if the former Featherweight champion lures the “Cowboy” in a quick punch-fest. He says Cerrone will be trapped into choosing whether to engage early with McGregor – a proven offensive juggernaut - or thrive with his relatively risky slow start.

“If it’s a quick fight, it’s going to be McGregor. If it’s a long fight, it’s going to be Cerrone,” St-Pierre kept it simple.

GSP recognized Cowboy’s own strong suit and gave the veteran a piece of unsolicited yet rational advice to have a chance to upset McGregor.

“If Cerrone comes and tries to grapple, because he’s got very, very good ground game; his ground game is very underrated,” GSP continued. "I’ve trained with him before and he’s got good takedowns. He’s very explosive to shoot the takedown. People don’t know that because he doesn’t use it much. He used it against Patrick Cote, but if he does that to weather the first couple of minutes of the storm and McGregor’s powerful left hand, I think he can get it.

“I think if he wrestles in round one, I think he has a good chance to win. But if he tries to play a boxing game, a karate game with McGregor, McGregor will tag him and knock him out.

“McGregor, from what I’ve seen, he’s like a sniper. When you fight a sniper, you need to move. You need to change levels, you need to change angles, you need to change distance and I don’t know if Cerrone will do that or if... because he’s known to be a very slow starter. So if he does that, if he doesn’t start right away, hard with the speed, he’s going to get caught.”

The showdown is set on Jan.18 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.